January 2011

Jam Cruise Journal: Knee Deep In It

Scott Bernstein January 6, 2011 6 Comments

While the first day of Jam Cruise was fun and featured some terrific music, Day Two took things to a whole new level. No matter where you looked, artists were jamming with each other in configurations that you’d never expect. The day was relentless as the MSC Poesia was motoring down to Roatan, Honduras.

Chicago’s Cornmeal kicked things off on the Pool Deck just before noon to a surprisingly large crowd. Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee provided the first sit-in of the day by joining Cornmeal for a segment that included a cover of Elton John’s Bennie and the Jets that the ensemble nailed on every level. There was even a tease of Terrapin thrown in for good measure.

DPV_7015_Brock_Pool_Deck

[Photo by Dave Vann]

If anyone read my Jam Cruise Journals from last year, you’ll probably recall how much I enjoyed Brock Butler’s performances. Brock was all over the place yesterday starting with a solo set on the smaller Solar Stage which featured a dream setlist that started with a cover of LCD Soundsystem’s All My Friends followed by the PGroove classic It Starts Where It Ends and Tom Petty’s Wildflowers. Under sunny skies and in 80 degree weather, Butler also treated cruisers to a Phosphorescent cover and his own The Weather and the Wait as well as Paul Simon’s Diamonds on the Soles of Shoes. The PGroove front man even showed off his freestyle skills during DMX’s Crime Stories.

READ ON for much more from day two of Jam Cruise

HT 25 Best Albums of 2010: Numbers 6-10

Hidden Track Staff January 6, 2011 5 Comments

For the second consecutive year at Hidden Track, we concocted our innovative little experiment for the year-end Best Albums list. Instead of picking the old fashioned way – subjectively – we opted for something a little different: a collaborative, collective list that incorporates the opinions of everybody here at HT.

To begin, we devised an all-encompassing list of well over 100 nominees, whereby most everything our contributors recommended made the list. Then we invited our crew of writers to independently and blindly vote on the whole list on a scale of 1 to 20 (20 = five stars). We ended up with varying degrees of familiarity with the nominees as some folks voted on just about everything, while some just a few. From there, we deployed our egghead algorithm for rating albums: (two times the average rating) + (the total number of votes). At that point, we took the top 25 highest scores and presto: the Hidden Track 25 Best Albums of 2010. No bullshit, no big opinions; just the results.

We’ve got just ten albums to go on our week long countdown, let’s check out albums number 6-10…

10) Beach House – Teen Dream

Key Tracks: Zebra, 10 Mile Stereo and Norway

Sounds Like: The music a female version of Neil Young would make while fighting the effects of Ambien

The Skinny: Beach House’s Sub-Pop debut, the band’s third full-length album, showed a major progression in the band’s sound as the duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally put together an album of dreamy originals that draws you in during the first few seconds of opening track Zebra and doesn’t let you go until the final notes of the closing Take Care. In between, Legrand and Scally take us on a tour of diverse soundscapes with layer upon layer of goodness that you’d never expect from a two-some. Whether using organs, slide guitar, or lush harmonies – Beach House put together a masterpiece of atmospheric rock.

READ ON for the next four albums in our countdown…

New Year’s Eve 2010-2011 Concerts Roundup – 25 Setlists & Show Notes

DaveO January 6, 2011 1 Comment

December 31st is the biggest night for live music of the year. An argument might be made for Halloween, but I’m not buying it. Your non-live-music-loving-friends don’t say things like, “Halloween is the most anti-climactic day of the year” while you sit there and just snicker. We’ve been a little Phish heavy this week so let’s take a look at how 24 other bands rang in 2011.

Side Note: This was my first time using embedded images from setlist.fm and I must say it looks super slick. That site has really got it going on, I hope the quality of data improves as more people use it, because with better information – statistics like “What songs did LCD Soundsystem play in 2010” will be really useful to have for a wide variety of bands.

Better Than Ezra:

The Black Keys:

READ ON for lots more New Year’s Eve Setlists

B List: 10 Things We Learned From Phish’s MSG Run

Luke Sacks January 6, 2011 21 Comments

While ScottyB is soaking in the rays and the tunes on the high seas, we are going to take a final look back at Phish’s monumental three-night run at Madison Square Garden.

1. The Band Still Has “It”
Some fans have felt this way for a while now. Some fans felt the band never recovered from their first hiatus. My feeling, and most fans probably felt this way, is that there have certainly been moments. And shows. And from time to time back-to-back shows. But there has not been a three-night run of this caliber (both song selection and playing) in a long long time. Like maybe Phish 1.0 long. The band confidently tore through 71 songs over the course of the stand and delivered, in my opinion, their three best start-to-finish shows of the year. If you aren’t impressed with what the band brought at MSG then you should just stop going to shows.

2. New Year’s Run Should be at MSG Every Year
I don’t give a fuck how nice the weather is in Miami. This band belongs at Madison Square Garden every year for New Year’s Eve. Something about the mix of that building, that band and New York City makes for magic. And next year the band should clean up and jam out Round Room as a proper nod. This year’s version, while very much appreciated, was one of the few tunes that showed its rust.

READ ON for eight more things Luke Learned from the run.

Bloggy Goodness: Get Well Chuck

Jeffrey Greenblatt January 6, 2011 1 Comment

At a performance at Congress Theatre in Chicago on New Year’s Day, influential Rock & Roll legend Chuck Berry collapsed on stage. According to an official statement on Berry’s website,

Wanda Jackson Adds February Tour Dates

January 6, 2011 No Comments

Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer Wanda Jackson has added further live dates to her sold-out New York City and Los Angeles record release shows. Jackson has added a special shortened set in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium for the Grand

The Greenhornes Announce U.S. Tour

January 6, 2011 No Comments

The Greenhornes have escaped a Mid-western winter to head to Australia for Big Day Out and play a string of dates with The Black Keys. However, U.S. fans will be

Simian Mobile Disco, Goose, Boom Boom Satellites

Eric Saeger January 6, 2011 No Comments

The Shotgun is a monthly column of "shotgun" CD reviews by Glide's Eric Saeger. This month he shoots up Simian Mobile Disco, Goose, Boom Boom Satellites and more.

Daryl Hall – Timely Resurgence & Renaissance (INTERVIEW)

David Masciotra January 6, 2011 No Comments

The resurgence and renaissance of Hall and Oates, which for those paying attention is simply a continuation of the hip hop sampling of their hits that began in the 1980s, is both exciting to fans and surprising to some critics. Most surprised are likely those critics who have always missed the point and lost the story of the most successful pop duo in music history.

The String Cheese Incident Revive Winter Carnival

January 6, 2011 No Comments

The String Cheese Incident announces today that in 2011 they will be bringing back the always highly anticipated Winter Carnival. Set for Thursday, March 10, Friday, March 11, and Saturday,

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